Orange County’s Health Services Provides Life Saving Equipment To Keep Assisted Living and Long-Term Care Facilities Covered

As the COVID-19 pandemic threatened the safety of her elderly patients, Claudia Lora, owner of Oasis at Pepper Mill Adult Family Care Home in Orlando, realized she needed help providing the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) for her residents. Supplies of face masks and other PPE items were scarce. Fortunately, thanks to the Orange County PPE for Community Initiative, she received the assistance she needed.

“I felt the pressure when I went to the supermarket or drugstore and couldn’t find supplies,” she said. “I can’t thank Orange County Government enough. They came at the right moment with a lot of help for my residents. I felt like they had my back in a time of need.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, more than 160 assisted living and long term-care facilities in Orange County have benefited from the County’s free PPE initiative. The County has been proactive in ensuring elderly care facilities have the PPE they need in order to protect both residents and staff.

“Older residents in long-term care are some of the most vulnerable Americans right now,” said Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings. “These facilities are dealing with an unprecedented challenge, as they try to maintain a high quality of life for their residents while also keeping them safe. Our responsibility is to help them maintain proper safety guidelines by providing them with the appropriate equipment.”

In just over a 7-month time span, Orange County Health Services has provided a large amount of PPE to local assisted living and long-term care facilities. Including:

• N-95 Masks: 234,761
• Ear Loop Masks: 5,996,484
• Gloves: 9,468 boxes
• Gowns: 99,334
• Hand Sanitizer: 4,768 (quarts) and 1,923 (gallons)
• Total Combined PPE Distributed (long-term care facilities and government agencies): 6,346,738

Lora was not the only local long-term care facility owner who struggled to find personal protective equipment. Especially during the early months of the pandemic, it was hard for people to find the supplies they needed, which is why the County saw the urgent need to start the PPE initiative.

“Now the protective equipment is accessible, it can be expensive,” said Danny Banks, Orange County Public Safety Director. “It’s another helpful hand we can extend out to the community to give them free PPE and make them as safe from the virus as possible.”

To learn more about Orange County’s PPE program and its community impact, visit PPE for Community Initiative.

Senior Care PPE from Orange TV on Vimeo.